Relations of personality factors and suitability ratings to Swedish military pilot education completion
2025 (English) In: International Journal of Selection and Assessment, ISSN 0965-075X, E-ISSN 1468-2389, Vol. 33, no 1, article id e12492Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Improved understanding of what it takes to be a pilot is an ongoing effort within aviation. We used an exploratory approach to examine whether there are personality-related differences in who completes the Swedish military pilot education. Assessment records of 182 applicants, accepted to the education between the years of 2004 and 2020 were studied (Mean age 24, SD 4.2 96% men, 4% women). Discriminant analysis was used to explore which personality traits and suitability ratings might be related to education completion. Analysis included suitability assessments made by senior pilots and by a psychologist, a number of traits assessed by the same psychologist, as well as the Commander Trait Inventory (CTI). The resulting discriminant function was significant (Wilk's Lambda = 0.808, (20) = 32.817, p = .035) with a canonical correlation of 0.44. The model was able to classify 74.1% of sample cases correctly. The modeling suggests that senior pilot assessment and psychologist assessment both predict education completion. Also contributing were the traits energy, professional motivation, study forecast and leader potential.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages John Wiley & Sons, 2025. Vol. 33, no 1, article id e12492
Keywords [en]
aviation, education, military, personality, selection, suitability
National Category
Applied Psychology
Research subject Psychology
Identifiers URN: urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-108239 DOI: 10.1111/ijsa.12492 ISI: 001258679700001 Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85197380559 OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-108239 DiVA, id: diva2:1880579
Funder Umeå University Vinnova, 202100‐2841 Swedish Armed Forces
Note Validerad;2024;Nivå 2;2024-12-05 (hanlid);
Full text license: CC BY;
Funder: SAAB;
2024-07-012024-07-012024-12-05 Bibliographically approved